lineage provides answers to the question “where do these teachings come from?”
My practice is rooted in Classical Tantric Yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, Ayurveda, Astrology, Ecology, Mediation, Social Justice and the wisdom passed down through my family (mostly about plants).
Yogic family tree: My relationship with yoga began before it actually began. I was introduced to Yoga through my dad’s sister, Kim, and her husband, Tom, who practiced in San Francisco with Judith Lasater in the Iyengar tradition. They were also devotees of Gangaji.
I began practicing in earnest with the help of a Rodney Yee video tape and the book Be Here Now, by Ram Dass. After taking lots of Power Yoga in Portland, Oregon, I found Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Pattabhi Jois. Ashtanga yoga was my primary asana practice from 2000-2006.
In 2004, I had my first direct experience of the power of the Bhagavad Gita while commuting to my job as a Deputy District Attorney in Colorado. Although I had read the book before, this time I listened to the Bhagavad Gita on cassette tape, read by Deepak Chopra. It changed me.
In 2006, I undertook a Yoga Teacher Training program at Whole Yoga in Denver, Colorado. Whole Yoga is part of the Shambhava School of Yoga, a Tantric practice rooted in Kashmir Shaivism. This was when my meditation practice really took hold (from 1998, I really struggled with meditation). Shambhava Yoga is influenced by the teachings of Swami Rudrinanda, Swami Muktananda and Swami Nityananda in addition to the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Lama Tsering Wangdu Rinpoche.
Teachers
Everyone needs teachers. Teachers can be currently or no-longer living. Teachers can be aware of the teacher-student relationship or unaware, but students who are also teachers need at least one teacher who will vouch for them AND who will answer hard questions that arise on the path. It’s also important to have (or be in pursuit of) a teacher who will ask the student hard questions and hold the student accountable to the teachings and ethics.
My most influential teachers.
Kira (Ryder) Sloane: Kira is my teacher, my teaching teacher, my mentor and my friend. Her teachers are Erich Schiffmann, Patricia Sullivan, Ravi Ravindra, Jetsumna Tenzin Palmo.
Erich Schiffmann: Erich’s teachings have grounded me in the wisdom of my own experience. his teachers are/were b.k.s. Iyengar and Jiddhu Krishnamurti.
Ravi Ravindra: Ravi is both a scholar and a practitioner. He carries precious wisdom from studying the texts AND studying the self. His teachers are/were Jiddhu Krishnamurti and Gurdjieff.
Inspirations
It’s also wonderful to have beings out there who have inspired you and who you try to honor in your practice, but who may not know who you are. You may not ever even study with them, but they are special to you on your path. Often, muses are no longer living in human bodies in this realm.
Some of my spirit muses
Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi)
Amma inspires me to love more, to love deeper and wider than I even knew was possible. Every day, I try to be more love. I bow to Amma.
Anandamayi Ma
Anandamayi Ma inspires me to stay close to my practice, to let truth reveal itself in its own way. She inspires me to trust what I know but cannot explain (or even describe).
Books
Books are another kind of teacher. The books you carry with you, the books you begin reading again as soon as you finish, the books that fall apart from love, dog-earing, highlighting and spilling coffee on because you can’t bear to be away from them. These books are your magic.
Books that are my teachers.
- Be Here Now, by Ram Dass.
- Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
- Original Yoga, by Richard Rosen.
- The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, by Ravi Ravindra.
- The Bhagavad Gita.
- Awakening Shakti, by Sally Kempton.
- The Radiance Sutras, by Lorin Roche.
- Good Citizen, by Thich Nhat Hanh.
- emergent strategy, by adrienne maree brown.